1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a slider type low insertion pressure connector.
2. Background
A connector disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho. 61-203581 is known as such a connector as mentioned above. FIG. 5 shows an example of the connector.
This connector includes a female connector housing 1, a male connector housing 2 fitted into a fitting hole 4 of the female connector housing 1, and a slider 3 which is inserted into insertion holes 5 of the female connector housing 1 so as to be slidable in a direction perpendicular to a connector fitting direction F.
The slider 3 is U-shaped and has upper and lower slide plates 13 and 14 slidable along upper and lower outer wall surfaces 2a of the male connector housing 2, and an operation portion 12 for connecting the upper and lower slide plates 13 and 14 in one side. Flexible arms 7 are provided in the female connector housing 1. The flexible arms 7 have temporary lock claws 8 and normal lock claws 9. The slider 3 has temporary lock portions 16 which engage with the temporary lock claws 8 in the female connector housing 1 side when the slider 3 is in a temporary lock position in which the slider 3 is inserted shallowly, and normal lock portions 17 which engage with the normal lock claws 9 in the female connector housing 1 side when the slider 3 is in a normal lock position in which the slider 3 is inserted deeply.
Further, engagement convex portions 10, 10 are provided on the upper and lower outer wall surfaces 2a of the male connector housing 2 whereas cam grooves 15, 15 are formed in the inner surfaces of the upper and lower slide plates 13 and 14 of the slider 3 so as to engage with the engagement convex portions 10, 10. The cam grooves 15, 15 which cooperate with the engagement convex portions 10, 10 to form a cam mechanism, have inlets 15a parallel with the connector fitting direction F, and inclination portions 15b provided in the rear side so as to be inclined with respect to the connector fitting direction F.
In use of this connector, the upper and lower slide plates 13 and 14 of the slider 3 are first inserted into the female connector housing 1 through insertion holes 5 of the female connector housing 1 as shown in FIG. 6a so that the slider 3 reaches a temporary lock position as shown in FIG. 6b. As a result, the temporary lock claws 8 engage with the temporary lock portions 16, so that the position of the slider 3 is retained. In this state, the male connector housing 2 is fitted so as to reach an initial lock position. As a result, the engagement convex portions 10 of the male connector housing 2 enter to the start points of the inclination portions 15b from the inlets 15a of the cam grooves 15 in the slider 3.
When the slider 3 in this state is inserted deeply so as to reach the normal lock position as shown in FIG. 6c, the engagement convex portions 10 are guided to the depth by the action of the inclination portions 15b of the cam grooves 15 so that the male connector housing 2 reaches the normal fitting position in the inside of the female connector housing 1 and the two connector housings 1 and 2 are fitted to each other. Further, the normal lock claws 9 engage with the normal lock portions 17 so that the slider 3 is normally locked and the two connector housings 1 and 2 are locked in the normal fitting state.
Incidentally, in the aforementioned conventional connector, predetermined lock strengths are given to the lock claws 8 and the flexible arms 7 respectively in order to retain the temporary lock state of the slider 3. There may still occur, however, such a situation that the slider 3 is moved from the temporary lock position to the normal lock position due to a shock, or the like, at the time of carrying the connector so that the slider 3 must be returned to the temporary lock position at the time of connector fitting operation. That is, workability is poor. If the strength for the temporary lock is selected to be larger in order to prevent the workability from becoming poor, a wasteful force is required for operating the slider 3 to the normal lock position to thereby bring about a problem that the original function of the low insertion pressure connector is spoiled.